Hello, today is March the 7th, 2001. My name is Ira McRoberts, and I live at 2865 Arlington-Georgetown Road, in Arlington, Kentucky. I was born on the 10/19/1919, pretty far back. I was seventeen years old when I entered the 3Cs in the month of June 1937. I served at Yellowstone National Park, Company 2512, at Camp Nez Perce Creek. Our camp was located somewhere between West Yellowstone, Montana, and Old Faithful Geyser, which I believe is in Wyoming.
This first question, what's your family background? Well, as far as I know my parents, their parents, and their parents, I guess, were all born in the USA. And I guess we are probably Scotch Irish. How many brothers and sisters did I have, and my level of education? I have five brothers, three sisters. I went to the 8th grade, and then three years trade school--shop work, most of the time. And I dropped out early because I also had a paper route, delivery.
I heard about the 3Cs--my brother joined the 3Cs couple years before me. And me and some friends and I went and signed up, downtown Cincinnati. The first time I tried I couldn't make the weight. So, I went back home, ate a few bananas, and made the weight the second time. Didn't know where we were going, where we'd end up me and a few friends. We left the Cincinnati Union Terminal somewhere in June and was sent to Ft Knox, Kentucky, to get processed; our uniforms, shots, and whatever else. We were first sent to Yellowstone National Park, we didn't know we were going there, but we found out on the train along the way.
When we arrived in Yellowstone, what was my first feelings? Well I was all eyes. I enjoyed it, the animals, the wildlife, everything around the camp. And we also were not far from Old Faithful Geyser. Yes, we lived in tents. But the barracks, I believe, were where we ate; the mess hall was in barracks, latrines, officers' quarters, but we were in tents. And I believe there wasn't really people in that camp when we got there; we were replacements, I guess. And I think that camp was really just for in case of forest fires in Yellowstone National Park, like many more of them in there. The work we done was cleaning up roads, trash. We'd go out with long sticks with nails in the end of them. Me and a friend and a couple of bears go out along the road picking up the trash and stuff that people throw out. We cleaned it up, put it in bags, and wait for the trucks to come by and pick up the bags. They dropped us off, a couple of guys for every couple of miles, to do this kind of work.
I couldn't make a sketch of this camp, it was too small. There were maybe only five or six tents.
A little story I can tell while we were on the road picking up these papers and cleaning up the trash. People would stop in their cars to feed these bears and try to get pictures of them. Well, one incident, I watched a man get out, bear came up to the car, he tried to get the bear to stand on his feet while he was trying to feed him crackers, and his wife was outside trying to get a picture of that. But, he teased the bear. Finally, the bear did get the cracker and I guess part of his fingers. They all jumped back in the car and took off. This happened quite a few times in Yellowstone even though they have signs all over West Yellowstone, Old Faithful, everywhere: “Do Not Feed the Bears of Animals.”
Now, let's go back to describe the camp that we lived in. We had no ball diamonds, or gardens, or anything in this camp. We sure did not need a garden to feed these wild animals that came in there and took whatever they wanted out of the garbage cans, or out of your tent, or wherever they could get and whatever they could get until we get a gang and run them off. Glad they didn't get a gang and run them off. If a bear would come in your tent and you had candy in your pockets, the bears would get your candy. That was in the middle of the night while you were sleeping, the bears would get the candy. Maybe take your pants with them, but they would get that candy out of your pockets and leave while we were outside. They'd run us out; when they got finished, they'd run us back in. So, we went back in and straightened the mess that they would make. That was a few of the bad things about the Park. Everyone was told not to keep candy, but some guys did anyway. That was some of the life around Yellowstone Park.
Like I say, the work we done cleaned up the roads, worked on the horse trails, bike trails, walking trails, all the things you can do around a big, I guess, amusement park. Plus, once in a while we were sent out to maybe dig ditches to block crown fires. I never had the thing about going to actually going to a fire, never was close to one. And I'm glad that there were people in Yellowstone, 3C boys that were into the fires, some lost their lives over around West Thumb while we were there. We were only there four months. That's why I believe our camp was really just for fighting fires in West Yellowstone and around Old Faithful.
For recreation we'd read at night, or go to town on the weekends, the town of West Yellowstone, which I enjoyed very much. I enjoyed this whole place my whole time I was in the 3Cs, I can say that.
Let's go down to some more questions here. What was my official job, did you move around? Well, I just told you, worked on public highways and Old Faithful Geyser.
Did you do anything special to add to the park? No I think most of them were already there, we just worked on them: the parks, new trails, bridges, roads.
Did I come in contact with any park personnel? Nope. I didn't come in contact with them. I seen them, noticed Rangers all over the place. And I do remember one person, personnel whose calls that I came into the 3Cs. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who came through in his touring car with his wife. Probably for a visit, checking out the camp. That's the closest I've ever been to a president in a life, my life. The rest of the presidents I've always saw on television or in newspapers and all that. But this guy, Mr. Delano Roosevelt, was pretty close to us when he came through the camp.
What I like best about my work? Well, just about everything. Course we had discipline at camp. If you didn't obey the rules, you would get to clean out grease pits, or work on KP [kitchen patrol] in the kitchen. We all went along with it and I didn't care, I liked it.
Who was my friends? Well, I made quite a few of them while I was in there. Course when we went there--do I share any stories?--when we first got there, seemed to be a guy in camp, he was a head[?] boxer. And the people I come out there with, there seemed to be a guy in our bunch that boxed from Chicago. And this one and two trying them out set out one bright evening, well, we had a little boxing match. They lasted about four or five punches and that was it. The man with us knocked the man out who was already there.
What did I do in the off hours? Well, that's one of the things we did in the off hours. One of my friends, after one year he didn't stick around, he left. But he left, he was transferred to Cub River Camp, Idaho. What did you do in your off hours, did you got to school? Did you play sports? No, not in Yellowstone. Did you make trips to Yellowstone? Yes. Can you tell about these events? West Yellowstone; we went out on weekends. Well, on one visit there, a visitor from Cincinnati asked me where I was from. I told him and he asked me if I’d heard about the Bearcats, which I hadn't heard about the Bearcats, which is a basketball team. I do hear about them now, and he couldn't get over me not knowing about the Bearcats being from Cincinnati, Ohio. That's the way it goes, too much on my mind at that age. Besides, I couldn't afford to go see the Bearcats anyway.
Were there any special meals prepared because of the holidays or events? Well, there weren't too many holidays when we was in Yellowstone. We had no complaints as far as meals. I believe most Sundays were just cold cuts, but all the weekday meals were good solid food. And you also had a chaplain. No matter what religion you were, you had a man in them camps to take care of your religion if you want to go see him, whether in a group, or by yourself ,or whatever.
Let's get through another one of these questions, collect any stories or evidence? Yeah, I told a couple of stories there. How often did you see animals? About every day, but we were told hands off. And from what I saw of them, I didn't want no hands on from those vicious grizzlies or mountain lions, anyway.
Share any stories or memories that were from your set. Well, there was a gang of them; that was way, way back. As you can see from the time I went in, it was hard to remember all that happened while I was up there.
Did you fight any fires? No. Any Search and Rescues? No. Just going out, maybe, and digging a long ditch and wide spaces for about a mile and the Rangers would say that was done on a count of crown fires that were heading that way. A crown fire is where the fire gets up in the trees and the winds take it for miles and miles and start other fires. I believe that's the way crown fires work.
Was there any men that had special categories? Oh yeah, we had truck drivers that went into town every day to get the mail, and the drivers that rode us out to the job and back, and cooks and KP men, everything that was needed around that camp.
What challenges did you face as an enrollee? Now, up there we didn't have too many challenges, only to go out on them dig them places like for fire, and get close to the animals that was a pretty good challenge, get close to Old Faithful was a challenge. You couldn't do that as often at all. Old Faithful back then, is nothing like it is today. Back then, you had a geyser that went quite a few feet high in the air and it roared and it shook the ground. Now, I went back out there and it is nothing like it today.
Did I earn any awards in the 3Cs, or citations? No, I don't think I was good enough.
As soon as the war started in the United States what did you do, were I still in the 3Cs? No, I got married when I was twenty years old and had a wife and three kids and worked at a plant that made war material. Plus, an injured eye that I received when I was transferred to Camp Cub River in Preston, Idaho.
What resources, tools and skills did you learn while you were in Yellowstone National Park and the 3Cs you brought to your professional life afterward? Well, after I got out of the 3Cs, it was still hard to get a job, but I learned how to drive a truck, I worked in a few factories. I learned how to use a jack hammer, run an air compressor, and lots more things that I would have never learned outside the 3Cs.
Have you ever been back to Yellowstone and to the scene of your old camp? Yeah, I went back out there went out to see Old Faithful--like I say, it doesn't go as high anymore--to get to my Camp Nez Perce Creek, we missed the turn, and I don't know if they tore it down or not, which I heard they did. But I did see Nez Perce Creek, because it was a long, pretty long creek. There is nothing about Nez Perce Creek that I forgot to tell. It was a real cold stream with hot pools all up and down it. And I was told, oh gosh, there weren't any fish in it, but I was told Indians would fish in that creek and cook the fish right alongside the hot pools that were in alongside the creek. And I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know you can stick your, hold your hand in the creek and frozen drink out of the creek, and hold your--. You wouldn't dare put your hand in one of the hot pools, because it’ll get burnt. So much for that.
Well, let's get back on the subject here on this interview. Have you ever been back to Yellowstone? Yes. All right, today I am retired from driving a truck in the Teamsters' Union for about thirty-five years. Seem to be getting along pretty good now, I never thought I'd be asked to explain the time I was in the 3Cs. I don't know if there is enough time left on this tape, when we went out of Old Faithful, while I was up around Old Faithful, we went up and around Gallatin National Forest. And also, I had a little piece of petrified wood out of the Petrified Forest and a little piece of gold, that stuff I sent home. But after over sixty years that stuff disappeared; I don't know where it went.
Now, we were transferred to Cub River Camp, Company 1506, Cub River Camp, Preston, Idaho. That's where I spent the about rest of the time in the 3Cs. Now there, there was work. We worked on the roads through the mountains, blasted out the side of a mountain, worked in snow slides. There was a lots more work we did around Cub River and there was a lot more barracks, a lot more people, possible 200 men. Oh about, I don't know how many barracks, I guess there must have been four and I don't know how many men to a barrack, but big stoves in the barracks. You had foot lockers to keep your miscellaneous volume you owned in a big foot locker, and they had inspections, oh maybe, you'd never know, maybe one or twice a month. They'd come through there and if your bed wasn't made right, your lockers wasn't right, you would get KP, or like I said clean out grease pits or some kind of dirty jobs around the camp. There was plenty of discipline there. And you were called, woke up with a bugle. You called to mess with a bugle, you stood out to retreat, you went to bed with Taps. Just about everything you did in the Army, except carry the weapons. I didn't mind all that work there either. I wasn't there too long. I was, after I left Yellowstone. In February the 14th, I believe was Valentine's Day, is when I injured my left eye while up on a mountain cleaning the way for a load to go through, chopping branches off of downed trees, and a chip of wood went in my eye. And that just about made the rest of my life and the 3Cs there a lot easier. It took a while for my eye to get back in shape, still couldn't see out of it very good, but I still worked around camp. That's when, I believe, I ran a laundry for a while with an old Army washing machine. I mixed up guys’ socks and all that for a while. And they did have ball diamonds in Preston, Idaho. Rodeos. In fact, we had ball teams and leagues and everything in the town of Preston, Idaho. In fact, I believe we had baseball under lights before they had it in Cincinnati, Ohio. Because we go back to Cincinnati, they was going to turn on the lights, and I said, what this is now, we had them out there when we was at the rodeo, playing baseball under the lights.
And, might be running out of tape here. But, that is about what we did in the 3Cs. I learned a lot more in Cub River Campm Preston, Idaho. Study mechanics; they gave you books and you could learn how to run a bulldozer and which, sometimes camped out there. I remember two weeks of being out there; we were snowed in about eight foot of snow up to the windows. You couldn’t get out, only around the camp couldn't get to town until the bulldozers clean the roads. Which I think we were about twenty mile from Preston, Idaho, back up in the mountains. There were snow slides all the time, and wild animals. Cub River was a little bit more stronger a creek than Nez Perce. But, it was more like a rapids and you could catch all kinds of fish in there. Like I say, it was another place I enjoyed. I had a girlfriend in Preston, Idaho. Me and my friend Charlie Simpson, he had a girlfriend and I went with her sister. But, Charlie Simpson left before I did. And I signed up in December of 1938 to stay again, but my commander officer Lieutenant Newsome sent me back with the ones that didn't want to stay back to Fort Knox. I told him I wanted to stay there. He said, “Nope, he had to send me back because I had an eye injury that had to be processed through Ft. Knox, Kentucky.” Which, I did. I left a girlfriend out there and that was too bad, but I had to go back there. I haven't seen her since. They processed. I stayed in Fort Knox, oh, for 6 months, until June of 1939, while they were sticking needles in my eye and telling me I had scar tissue over my eye. But, I left. They gave me a leave in June of 1939 to go home. But, they had told me they'd see me. That's why I figured I was still in; they said they'd see me in September; they'd give me a three months leave. But, I never had no tickets or anything to get back to Fort Knox. Didn't go back and I guess that was the wrong thing to do. But, I carried the bad eye for, oh, quite a while. Here a couple of years ago a guy scratched all the tissue off of it, put a band in it. Now, I got two good eyes. So, that's the way it was. And I hope that, I don't know that the people that I'm filling this interview out for, I don't know whether this sounds likes more of a story of my life, my whole life. But, maybe you can do some, listen to the part that happened when I was in the 3Cs.
And it also says here about.....Oh yeah, it says tell me about anything unique, anything that needs to be recorded for history, feel free to answer any questions I forgot to ask you. Well, Franklin Delano Roosevelt should always--everything he did should go down in history, as far as I'm concerned. He was the greatest and, I believe, they should start the 3Cs up again. There is nothing like getting teenagers off the streets, out of drugs, making them work, making them learn something. It sure helped me. Course, I never dealt in drugs; not much of a cigarette smoker. But that's what this country needs. It does need for all the teenagers that's not working, laying around, doing nothing, running the streets. A place for them to get out, meet each other, work, you can still have sports and everything in these camps.
Well, before I finish this tape, I got this letter from a Mary Bolhois of Montana. And I'm in Kentucky and I can't hardly see how this interview would do any good. Maybe it will, but between two people that are that far away. I just wish we were sitting face to face, probably would've been a much better interview and more of what I did and what a lot of boys did in the 3Cs. A lot of them that were in the 3Cs took pictures. I knew that, because I belong to th--I'm a lifelong member of the National Chapter of 3Cs in St Louis, Missouri. I had no pictures to send them, but I do get this book once a month that does have a lot of pictures and it. Of what the 3Cs looked like, what all the camps looks like. And if you want one Mary, maybe I can send you, send one out there, so you can look at it. Or maybe you've already had some of them, I don't know. But anyway if get one, if you don't mind I will send it to you.
Now, this is just a practice tape I'm on here now, I haven't put anything on the tape you sent me yet. But I will. Maybe I'll call you. Maybe I'll send this tape to you and keep your tape. Call you or you send me another letter if this isn't good enough. Maybe I can do it again. So, Happy Easter for a while, Mary. I hope this tape helps you. It helped me.

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

McRoberts recalls his time in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of Company #2512, located at the Nez Perce Creek Camp (YNP-5) and various spike camps in Yellowstone National Park. He mentions his work fighting fires and cleaning roads and trails, including the Howard Eaton Trail. He recalls the camp layout and recreational activities such as visiting the Old Faithful area and the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. He recounts incidents with bears and moose, a visit from President Roosevelt, and the deaths of several CCC members from West Thumb in a forest fire. McRoberts also talks about his time as part of Company #1506, located at Cub River Camp in Preston, Idaho, and Fort Knox, Kentucky. The narrator self-interviewed by recording his responses to a list of written questions. There is another interview, recorded at a later date, that is very similar, but not identical.

Transferred from audio cassette using TEAC recorder/player. Edited for clarity using Audacity software.

Date Digitized

2017

Transcript

Hello, today is March the 7th, 2001. My name is Ira McRoberts, and I live at 2865 Arlington-Georgetown Road, in Arlington, Kentucky. I was born on the 10/19/1919, pretty far back. I was seventeen years old when I entered the 3Cs in the month of June 1937. I served at Yellowstone National Park, Company 2512, at Camp Nez Perce Creek. Our camp was located somewhere between West Yellowstone, Montana, and Old Faithful Geyser, which I believe is in Wyoming.
This first question, what's your family background? Well, as far as I know my parents, their parents, and their parents, I guess, were all born in the USA. And I guess we are probably Scotch Irish. How many brothers and sisters did I have, and my level of education? I have five brothers, three sisters. I went to the 8th grade, and then three years trade school--shop work, most of the time. And I dropped out early because I also had a paper route, delivery.
I heard about the 3Cs--my brother joined the 3Cs couple years before me. And me and some friends and I went and signed up, downtown Cincinnati. The first time I tried I couldn't make the weight. So, I went back home, ate a few bananas, and made the weight the second time. Didn't know where we were going, where we'd end up me and a few friends. We left the Cincinnati Union Terminal somewhere in June and was sent to Ft Knox, Kentucky, to get processed; our uniforms, shots, and whatever else. We were first sent to Yellowstone National Park, we didn't know we were going there, but we found out on the train along the way.
When we arrived in Yellowstone, what was my first feelings? Well I was all eyes. I enjoyed it, the animals, the wildlife, everything around the camp. And we also were not far from Old Faithful Geyser. Yes, we lived in tents. But the barracks, I believe, were where we ate; the mess hall was in barracks, latrines, officers' quarters, but we were in tents. And I believe there wasn't really people in that camp when we got there; we were replacements, I guess. And I think that camp was really just for in case of forest fires in Yellowstone National Park, like many more of them in there. The work we done was cleaning up roads, trash. We'd go out with long sticks with nails in the end of them. Me and a friend and a couple of bears go out along the road picking up the trash and stuff that people throw out. We cleaned it up, put it in bags, and wait for the trucks to come by and pick up the bags. They dropped us off, a couple of guys for every couple of miles, to do this kind of work.
I couldn't make a sketch of this camp, it was too small. There were maybe only five or six tents.
A little story I can tell while we were on the road picking up these papers and cleaning up the trash. People would stop in their cars to feed these bears and try to get pictures of them. Well, one incident, I watched a man get out, bear came up to the car, he tried to get the bear to stand on his feet while he was trying to feed him crackers, and his wife was outside trying to get a picture of that. But, he teased the bear. Finally, the bear did get the cracker and I guess part of his fingers. They all jumped back in the car and took off. This happened quite a few times in Yellowstone even though they have signs all over West Yellowstone, Old Faithful, everywhere: “Do Not Feed the Bears of Animals.”
Now, let's go back to describe the camp that we lived in. We had no ball diamonds, or gardens, or anything in this camp. We sure did not need a garden to feed these wild animals that came in there and took whatever they wanted out of the garbage cans, or out of your tent, or wherever they could get and whatever they could get until we get a gang and run them off. Glad they didn't get a gang and run them off. If a bear would come in your tent and you had candy in your pockets, the bears would get your candy. That was in the middle of the night while you were sleeping, the bears would get the candy. Maybe take your pants with them, but they would get that candy out of your pockets and leave while we were outside. They'd run us out; when they got finished, they'd run us back in. So, we went back in and straightened the mess that they would make. That was a few of the bad things about the Park. Everyone was told not to keep candy, but some guys did anyway. That was some of the life around Yellowstone Park.
Like I say, the work we done cleaned up the roads, worked on the horse trails, bike trails, walking trails, all the things you can do around a big, I guess, amusement park. Plus, once in a while we were sent out to maybe dig ditches to block crown fires. I never had the thing about going to actually going to a fire, never was close to one. And I'm glad that there were people in Yellowstone, 3C boys that were into the fires, some lost their lives over around West Thumb while we were there. We were only there four months. That's why I believe our camp was really just for fighting fires in West Yellowstone and around Old Faithful.
For recreation we'd read at night, or go to town on the weekends, the town of West Yellowstone, which I enjoyed very much. I enjoyed this whole place my whole time I was in the 3Cs, I can say that.
Let's go down to some more questions here. What was my official job, did you move around? Well, I just told you, worked on public highways and Old Faithful Geyser.
Did you do anything special to add to the park? No I think most of them were already there, we just worked on them: the parks, new trails, bridges, roads.
Did I come in contact with any park personnel? Nope. I didn't come in contact with them. I seen them, noticed Rangers all over the place. And I do remember one person, personnel whose calls that I came into the 3Cs. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who came through in his touring car with his wife. Probably for a visit, checking out the camp. That's the closest I've ever been to a president in a life, my life. The rest of the presidents I've always saw on television or in newspapers and all that. But this guy, Mr. Delano Roosevelt, was pretty close to us when he came through the camp.
What I like best about my work? Well, just about everything. Course we had discipline at camp. If you didn't obey the rules, you would get to clean out grease pits, or work on KP [kitchen patrol] in the kitchen. We all went along with it and I didn't care, I liked it.
Who was my friends? Well, I made quite a few of them while I was in there. Course when we went there--do I share any stories?--when we first got there, seemed to be a guy in camp, he was a head[?] boxer. And the people I come out there with, there seemed to be a guy in our bunch that boxed from Chicago. And this one and two trying them out set out one bright evening, well, we had a little boxing match. They lasted about four or five punches and that was it. The man with us knocked the man out who was already there.
What did I do in the off hours? Well, that's one of the things we did in the off hours. One of my friends, after one year he didn't stick around, he left. But he left, he was transferred to Cub River Camp, Idaho. What did you do in your off hours, did you got to school? Did you play sports? No, not in Yellowstone. Did you make trips to Yellowstone? Yes. Can you tell about these events? West Yellowstone; we went out on weekends. Well, on one visit there, a visitor from Cincinnati asked me where I was from. I told him and he asked me if I’d heard about the Bearcats, which I hadn't heard about the Bearcats, which is a basketball team. I do hear about them now, and he couldn't get over me not knowing about the Bearcats being from Cincinnati, Ohio. That's the way it goes, too much on my mind at that age. Besides, I couldn't afford to go see the Bearcats anyway.
Were there any special meals prepared because of the holidays or events? Well, there weren't too many holidays when we was in Yellowstone. We had no complaints as far as meals. I believe most Sundays were just cold cuts, but all the weekday meals were good solid food. And you also had a chaplain. No matter what religion you were, you had a man in them camps to take care of your religion if you want to go see him, whether in a group, or by yourself ,or whatever.
Let's get through another one of these questions, collect any stories or evidence? Yeah, I told a couple of stories there. How often did you see animals? About every day, but we were told hands off. And from what I saw of them, I didn't want no hands on from those vicious grizzlies or mountain lions, anyway.
Share any stories or memories that were from your set. Well, there was a gang of them; that was way, way back. As you can see from the time I went in, it was hard to remember all that happened while I was up there.
Did you fight any fires? No. Any Search and Rescues? No. Just going out, maybe, and digging a long ditch and wide spaces for about a mile and the Rangers would say that was done on a count of crown fires that were heading that way. A crown fire is where the fire gets up in the trees and the winds take it for miles and miles and start other fires. I believe that's the way crown fires work.
Was there any men that had special categories? Oh yeah, we had truck drivers that went into town every day to get the mail, and the drivers that rode us out to the job and back, and cooks and KP men, everything that was needed around that camp.
What challenges did you face as an enrollee? Now, up there we didn't have too many challenges, only to go out on them dig them places like for fire, and get close to the animals that was a pretty good challenge, get close to Old Faithful was a challenge. You couldn't do that as often at all. Old Faithful back then, is nothing like it is today. Back then, you had a geyser that went quite a few feet high in the air and it roared and it shook the ground. Now, I went back out there and it is nothing like it today.
Did I earn any awards in the 3Cs, or citations? No, I don't think I was good enough.
As soon as the war started in the United States what did you do, were I still in the 3Cs? No, I got married when I was twenty years old and had a wife and three kids and worked at a plant that made war material. Plus, an injured eye that I received when I was transferred to Camp Cub River in Preston, Idaho.
What resources, tools and skills did you learn while you were in Yellowstone National Park and the 3Cs you brought to your professional life afterward? Well, after I got out of the 3Cs, it was still hard to get a job, but I learned how to drive a truck, I worked in a few factories. I learned how to use a jack hammer, run an air compressor, and lots more things that I would have never learned outside the 3Cs.
Have you ever been back to Yellowstone and to the scene of your old camp? Yeah, I went back out there went out to see Old Faithful--like I say, it doesn't go as high anymore--to get to my Camp Nez Perce Creek, we missed the turn, and I don't know if they tore it down or not, which I heard they did. But I did see Nez Perce Creek, because it was a long, pretty long creek. There is nothing about Nez Perce Creek that I forgot to tell. It was a real cold stream with hot pools all up and down it. And I was told, oh gosh, there weren't any fish in it, but I was told Indians would fish in that creek and cook the fish right alongside the hot pools that were in alongside the creek. And I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know you can stick your, hold your hand in the creek and frozen drink out of the creek, and hold your--. You wouldn't dare put your hand in one of the hot pools, because it’ll get burnt. So much for that.
Well, let's get back on the subject here on this interview. Have you ever been back to Yellowstone? Yes. All right, today I am retired from driving a truck in the Teamsters' Union for about thirty-five years. Seem to be getting along pretty good now, I never thought I'd be asked to explain the time I was in the 3Cs. I don't know if there is enough time left on this tape, when we went out of Old Faithful, while I was up around Old Faithful, we went up and around Gallatin National Forest. And also, I had a little piece of petrified wood out of the Petrified Forest and a little piece of gold, that stuff I sent home. But after over sixty years that stuff disappeared; I don't know where it went.
Now, we were transferred to Cub River Camp, Company 1506, Cub River Camp, Preston, Idaho. That's where I spent the about rest of the time in the 3Cs. Now there, there was work. We worked on the roads through the mountains, blasted out the side of a mountain, worked in snow slides. There was a lots more work we did around Cub River and there was a lot more barracks, a lot more people, possible 200 men. Oh about, I don't know how many barracks, I guess there must have been four and I don't know how many men to a barrack, but big stoves in the barracks. You had foot lockers to keep your miscellaneous volume you owned in a big foot locker, and they had inspections, oh maybe, you'd never know, maybe one or twice a month. They'd come through there and if your bed wasn't made right, your lockers wasn't right, you would get KP, or like I said clean out grease pits or some kind of dirty jobs around the camp. There was plenty of discipline there. And you were called, woke up with a bugle. You called to mess with a bugle, you stood out to retreat, you went to bed with Taps. Just about everything you did in the Army, except carry the weapons. I didn't mind all that work there either. I wasn't there too long. I was, after I left Yellowstone. In February the 14th, I believe was Valentine's Day, is when I injured my left eye while up on a mountain cleaning the way for a load to go through, chopping branches off of downed trees, and a chip of wood went in my eye. And that just about made the rest of my life and the 3Cs there a lot easier. It took a while for my eye to get back in shape, still couldn't see out of it very good, but I still worked around camp. That's when, I believe, I ran a laundry for a while with an old Army washing machine. I mixed up guys’ socks and all that for a while. And they did have ball diamonds in Preston, Idaho. Rodeos. In fact, we had ball teams and leagues and everything in the town of Preston, Idaho. In fact, I believe we had baseball under lights before they had it in Cincinnati, Ohio. Because we go back to Cincinnati, they was going to turn on the lights, and I said, what this is now, we had them out there when we was at the rodeo, playing baseball under the lights.
And, might be running out of tape here. But, that is about what we did in the 3Cs. I learned a lot more in Cub River Campm Preston, Idaho. Study mechanics; they gave you books and you could learn how to run a bulldozer and which, sometimes camped out there. I remember two weeks of being out there; we were snowed in about eight foot of snow up to the windows. You couldn’t get out, only around the camp couldn't get to town until the bulldozers clean the roads. Which I think we were about twenty mile from Preston, Idaho, back up in the mountains. There were snow slides all the time, and wild animals. Cub River was a little bit more stronger a creek than Nez Perce. But, it was more like a rapids and you could catch all kinds of fish in there. Like I say, it was another place I enjoyed. I had a girlfriend in Preston, Idaho. Me and my friend Charlie Simpson, he had a girlfriend and I went with her sister. But, Charlie Simpson left before I did. And I signed up in December of 1938 to stay again, but my commander officer Lieutenant Newsome sent me back with the ones that didn't want to stay back to Fort Knox. I told him I wanted to stay there. He said, “Nope, he had to send me back because I had an eye injury that had to be processed through Ft. Knox, Kentucky.” Which, I did. I left a girlfriend out there and that was too bad, but I had to go back there. I haven't seen her since. They processed. I stayed in Fort Knox, oh, for 6 months, until June of 1939, while they were sticking needles in my eye and telling me I had scar tissue over my eye. But, I left. They gave me a leave in June of 1939 to go home. But, they had told me they'd see me. That's why I figured I was still in; they said they'd see me in September; they'd give me a three months leave. But, I never had no tickets or anything to get back to Fort Knox. Didn't go back and I guess that was the wrong thing to do. But, I carried the bad eye for, oh, quite a while. Here a couple of years ago a guy scratched all the tissue off of it, put a band in it. Now, I got two good eyes. So, that's the way it was. And I hope that, I don't know that the people that I'm filling this interview out for, I don't know whether this sounds likes more of a story of my life, my whole life. But, maybe you can do some, listen to the part that happened when I was in the 3Cs.
And it also says here about.....Oh yeah, it says tell me about anything unique, anything that needs to be recorded for history, feel free to answer any questions I forgot to ask you. Well, Franklin Delano Roosevelt should always--everything he did should go down in history, as far as I'm concerned. He was the greatest and, I believe, they should start the 3Cs up again. There is nothing like getting teenagers off the streets, out of drugs, making them work, making them learn something. It sure helped me. Course, I never dealt in drugs; not much of a cigarette smoker. But that's what this country needs. It does need for all the teenagers that's not working, laying around, doing nothing, running the streets. A place for them to get out, meet each other, work, you can still have sports and everything in these camps.
Well, before I finish this tape, I got this letter from a Mary Bolhois of Montana. And I'm in Kentucky and I can't hardly see how this interview would do any good. Maybe it will, but between two people that are that far away. I just wish we were sitting face to face, probably would've been a much better interview and more of what I did and what a lot of boys did in the 3Cs. A lot of them that were in the 3Cs took pictures. I knew that, because I belong to th--I'm a lifelong member of the National Chapter of 3Cs in St Louis, Missouri. I had no pictures to send them, but I do get this book once a month that does have a lot of pictures and it. Of what the 3Cs looked like, what all the camps looks like. And if you want one Mary, maybe I can send you, send one out there, so you can look at it. Or maybe you've already had some of them, I don't know. But anyway if get one, if you don't mind I will send it to you.
Now, this is just a practice tape I'm on here now, I haven't put anything on the tape you sent me yet. But I will. Maybe I'll call you. Maybe I'll send this tape to you and keep your tape. Call you or you send me another letter if this isn't good enough. Maybe I can do it again. So, Happy Easter for a while, Mary. I hope this tape helps you. It helped me.